Childcare Payments Bill

Debate between Baroness Morgan of Cotes and Neil Parish

Monday 14th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point. As I am sure he will be aware, my colleagues in the Department for Education, and particularly the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss), have been working to encourage the provision of more places, including by providing £500 to enable child minders to set up new businesses, and through schools and a wide variety of places. He is absolutely right that in order to tackle the issues of child care, we need to think about not only the costs but the supply side. We are confident that there will be places available for all the families who want them.

Let me turn first to the “why”. As hon. Members will know very well—many from their own experiences—every year millions of families across the country are faced with a difficult decision: whether it makes greater financial sense to stay at home and manage child care themselves or to go to work and arrange for someone else to do it.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

I very much welcome the Government’s approach to tax-free child care, especially for the self-employed. In the past they have been ruled out of help, so the sooner we can put that right, the better.